This is not how much more a Big Mac would cost the McDonalds corporation if all employee salaries were to double; this is how much more a Big Mac would cost the Mcdonalds corporation if all employee salaries were to double and McDonalds wanted to maintain the same level of profit. Products are not priced based on careful calculation of cost of labor, training, materials, facilities, etc., but those form the minimum to sustain a company whereas a company is willing to find the maximum a market will spend on a product. When cost of labor, materials, and so forth increase, products are priced higher, and when cost of labor, materials, and so forth decrease, products remain the same cost for longer because we know the market will spend this maximum on a product.

Bobbinsworth:The damned job was intended for teenagers. To give them part time experience while in school and money for movies/dating. Let them have that entry level, no skills niche back, so they can find and learn how to work again . Unless your management it should be off limits to anyone out of high school . period.

In the 70's - 80's US, yes. Unfortunately, we've switched from a consumer based economy that was sustained by over a hundred million people with middle and lower class manufacturing jobs to a serviced based economy with few manufacturing jobs available.

Why not let employers pay what the job is worth and have the government just pay welfare to people that need it? That way the cost of subsidizing low-value jobs doesn't fall entirely on the people providing those jobs and teenagers who aren't supporting a family aren't getting an artificially inflated wage.

They aren't acting in their own interests. They want others (the government to). I worked in retail once. I used it to help pay my way in school and find greener fields. I didn't expect the retailer to pay me what I make now. I went out and found a different job.

Funny aside: There are a few places where the poorer bands have a higher % of their money in stocks, which I can't explain. (Maybe it's just me, but I've never had $20,000 in General Dynamics stock + living out on an abandoned pier off of Mississippi with no job for a whole year.)

You're obviously a Democrat. If you thought like a Republican, you'd realize there is another choice: Fu*ck people on minimum wage. Don't raise it a penny. People who make minimum wage need to strive to improve themselves so that they will one day DESERVE to make more money. One way to give them incentive to do this is to remove the safety net: No more welfare. No more food stamps. No more subsidized housing. This is the kind of tough love necessary to rebuild our economy. It's called "compassionate conservatism." It's a win-win for everybody, because it also allows us to give bigger tax cuts to the people with money -- aka the "job creators" -- who will show their generosity and beneficence by using that tax savings to hire more people... at minimum wage, of course.

/yes, they really do think like this//if you don't believe me, watch Fox News for a while

I believe this is why most Fox News watchers own more than one high powered fire arm. They know, deep in their hearts, that thanks to their policies of marginalizing the under class a revolution is coming. I think on a certain level they welcome it, as they think GodTM will ensure that they're the ones who win the war.

Marie Antionette, when told there was no bread for the commoners, said "let them eat cake." John Boehner (or his future equivalent), when told that the minimum wage is not enough to let them buy bread, will likely say something to the effect of, "let them get a second job." What has happened before can easily happen again. We as a society are not as smart as we think we are.

Pray 4 Mojo:jst3p: Pray 4 Mojo: The Stealth Hippopotamus: 550 million Big Macs are sold in the US every year.

550,000,000 X .68 = 374,000,000.00

If McD thought they could just increase the price of their Big Mac and make an additional 374 million dollars don't you think they would have already done it?!?

This.

Pointless study is pointless.

/If you work at Mcdonalds in an attempt to support anyone other than yourself, at some point, you failed at life.

This as close to the actual words, "I got mine, fark you" I have ever seen.

Thanks!

In 1992... I was working for a general contractor as a shovel operator for 6 bucks an hour (which I think was CA minimum wage... if not... it was damn close). You know what I did? I worked hard. I didn't complain. I showed up every day. I learned everything I could. I asked for more responsibility. I didn't have kids when I couldn't afford them.

I make a shiatload more than 6 bucks an hour now... and I still work for a GC (a different GC though). And you know what? I still work hard. I still don't complain... etc...

So yeah... fark you. I got mine because I WORK for it. Go get your own... it's not impossible.

Life doesn't owe anybody a farking thing.

I got mine too, I went from not being able to finish High School due to the disintegration of my family (drugs and San Quentin) to making a very good salary. I, on the other hand recognize that I didn't do it on my own, (and neither did you, although I am sure you think you did) and it is even harder to do now than when I did it because the wealth gap is getting larger and median wages have been frozen for some time. I am sure you have no problem sleeping at night, nor do I. The difference between us is that one of us realizes you are an ass who has no idea what he is talking about.

When I read this, I was pissed. I was pissed because I had made less working with special needs clients and getting my ass punched on a daily basis. I could have made more. PLUS, burgers won't hit because they can't express their feelings. *pout*

You are not entitled to anything, snowflake. Fast food is a job a monkey could do. You are a wage slave. Fast Food and Retail are jobs that get you to learn the real world, then you get off your ass and get educated to get out of the doldrums. If you decided to drop out of high school or you can't go to school because you decided to have 3 kids, that is what normal people call "poor life choices".

Pray 4 Mojo:The Stealth Hippopotamus: 550 million Big Macs are sold in the US every year.

550,000,000 X .68 = 374,000,000.00

If McD thought they could just increase the price of their Big Mac and make an additional 374 million dollars don't you think they would have already done it?!?

This.

Pointless study is pointless.

/If you work at Mcdonalds in an attempt to support anyone other than yourself, at some point, you failed at life.

According to the sidebar article the average age of fast food workers is 28. You think we should just write off those people as "failed" and not consider seeing to it they have a reasonable means to contribute back to society?

keylock71:super_grass: A 30-something year old really shouldn't be looking at serious employment in these positions.

Yeah, in a perfect world, maybe, but in case you haven't noticed, we don't live in one of those... How about a 30 year old mill worker who got laid off and still has a family to support? How about the 30 year old rural resident with very few career opportunities? How about the 30 year old single mother who has to support her children?

Sometimes that minimum wage job is all that some people have available to them. it's real easy to pontificate on the internet when you're not in that position yourself.

Kinda like how easy it is to pontificate about what a CEO or business owner should pay his employees when you're not in that position yourself.

/why stop at $15/hr? Surely the laid off steel worker deserves more and the rural guy definitely needs $20 or $25 an hour, and the single mom at least $50, she's gotta pay for child care

Rand's lacy underwear:Funny aside: There are a few places where the poorer bands have a higher % of their money in stocks, which I can't explain. (Maybe it's just me, but I've never had $20,000 in General Dynamics stock + living out on an abandoned pier off of Mississippi with no job for a whole year.)

Abox:Why not let employers pay what the job is worth and have the government just pay welfare to people that need it? That way the cost of subsidizing low-value jobs doesn't fall entirely on the people providing those jobs and teenagers who aren't supporting a family aren't getting an artificially inflated wage.

Employers(mostly) don't pay low level employees what the job is worth, they pay the minimum that they can get away with.

jst3p:Pray 4 Mojo: jst3p: Pray 4 Mojo: The Stealth Hippopotamus: 550 million Big Macs are sold in the US every year.

550,000,000 X .68 = 374,000,000.00

If McD thought they could just increase the price of their Big Mac and make an additional 374 million dollars don't you think they would have already done it?!?

This.

Pointless study is pointless.

/If you work at Mcdonalds in an attempt to support anyone other than yourself, at some point, you failed at life.

This as close to the actual words, "I got mine, fark you" I have ever seen.

Thanks!

In 1992... I was working for a general contractor as a shovel operator for 6 bucks an hour (which I think was CA minimum wage... if not... it was damn close). You know what I did? I worked hard. I didn't complain. I showed up every day. I learned everything I could. I asked for more responsibility. I didn't have kids when I couldn't afford them.

I make a shiatload more than 6 bucks an hour now... and I still work for a GC (a different GC though). And you know what? I still work hard. I still don't complain... etc...

So yeah... fark you. I got mine because I WORK for it. Go get your own... it's not impossible.

Life doesn't owe anybody a farking thing.

I got mine too, I went from not being able to finish High School due to the disintegration of my family (drugs and San Quentin) to making a very good salary. I, on the other hand recognize that I didn't do it on my own, (and neither did you, although I am sure you think you did) and it is even harder to do now than when I did it because the wealth gap is getting larger and median wages have been frozen for some time. I am sure you have no problem sleeping at night, nor do I. The difference between us is that one of us realizes you are an ass who has no idea what he is talking about.

Voiceofreason01:Abox: Why not let employers pay what the job is worth and have the government just pay welfare to people that need it? That way the cost of subsidizing low-value jobs doesn't fall entirely on the people providing those jobs and teenagers who aren't supporting a family aren't getting an artificially inflated wage.

Employers(mostly) don't pay low level employees what the job is worth, they pay the minimum that they can get away with.

Frederick:Pray 4 Mojo: The Stealth Hippopotamus: 550 million Big Macs are sold in the US every year.

550,000,000 X .68 = 374,000,000.00

If McD thought they could just increase the price of their Big Mac and make an additional 374 million dollars don't you think they would have already done it?!?

This.

Pointless study is pointless.

/If you work at Mcdonalds in an attempt to support anyone other than yourself, at some point, you failed at life.

According to the sidebar article the average age of fast food workers is 28. You think we should just write off those people as "failed" and not consider seeing to it they have a reasonable means to contribute back to society?

Yes. If you are 28 and working the McD's counter you probably deserve to be there.

You raise the cost of minimum wage, you raise the asking price of skilled workers to be able to sustain livable conditions because the cost of EVERYTHING else goes up. Gas, luxuries, food, etc, etc. Raising minimum wage has a domino effect liberals don't seem to understand. Because if you raise minimum wage, how many liberals will biatch about the cost of their lattes?

Weaver95:Pray 4 Mojo: Weaver95: Pray 4 Mojo:If my minimum wage employees are crappy employees BECAUSE I'm paying them minimum wage... then they are crappy employees. Show up early, be smart, work hard and learn... you will get more responsibility and income.

But that's not how it works in the majority of min wage work places. Take walmart for example - you work your best...you get shiat on. you show up and do the bare minimum...you get shiat on. there's no incentive to work hard because you won't ever be rewarded for it. in fact there's every reason to believe you'll actually be punished for it.

Then get some skills and work experience at Walmart... and take them somewhere else.

where, exactly? walmart undermines and destroys the competition. again - you could try to start your own competing business but...with what money?

So... the only places to work are McDonalds and Walmart? In-N-Out Burger and Costco both pay very well for that skill level... go work there.

Well no, we could dismantle the military and stop invading every country on the planet. Then we'd still have money for welfare. Have a wage cap as well of 500X minimum wage, you want to earn more money? pay your employees more.

marsoft:HeartBurnKid: OregonVet: Just raise minimum wage to $12 and index it to inflation. Since McD employees already earn more than minimum, according TFA, it will be a bonus for everyone. Problem solved. We'll do ourselves a favor by not having to hear about this crap every year or so....

Have to add that, or else we're just delaying the problem.

Of course the real problem is not the minimum wage or such is it money as debt.

Most of the money in the economy is not real. If everyone was debt free the whole system would crash. As things stand the only way the system can work is for debt to increase. This will of course hit a limit where the supply is not sufficient to service the existing debt. Some say this has already happened and the 2008 crash is the first indication of the collapse.

Read up on how the monetary system actually works, you will be shocked. Nope I am not some conspiracy nut, I am someone who works in the FS industry and knows how stuff works.

I was wondering when the gold bugs would show up, as if gold had intrinsic value.

GORDON:jst3p: Pray 4 Mojo: jst3p: Pray 4 Mojo: The Stealth Hippopotamus: 550 million Big Macs are sold in the US every year.

550,000,000 X .68 = 374,000,000.00

If McD thought they could just increase the price of their Big Mac and make an additional 374 million dollars don't you think they would have already done it?!?

This.

Pointless study is pointless.

/If you work at Mcdonalds in an attempt to support anyone other than yourself, at some point, you failed at life.

This as close to the actual words, "I got mine, fark you" I have ever seen.

Thanks!

In 1992... I was working for a general contractor as a shovel operator for 6 bucks an hour (which I think was CA minimum wage... if not... it was damn close). You know what I did? I worked hard. I didn't complain. I showed up every day. I learned everything I could. I asked for more responsibility. I didn't have kids when I couldn't afford them.

I make a shiatload more than 6 bucks an hour now... and I still work for a GC (a different GC though). And you know what? I still work hard. I still don't complain... etc...

So yeah... fark you. I got mine because I WORK for it. Go get your own... it's not impossible.

Life doesn't owe anybody a farking thing.

I got mine too, I went from not being able to finish High School due to the disintegration of my family (drugs and San Quentin) to making a very good salary. I, on the other hand recognize that I didn't do it on my own, (and neither did you, although I am sure you think you did) and it is even harder to do now than when I did it because the wealth gap is getting larger and median wages have been frozen for some time. I am sure you have no problem sleeping at night, nor do I. The difference between us is that one of us realizes you are an ass who has no idea what he is talking about.

So, in other words, YOU DIDN'T BUILD THAT.

Were either he or I born in Somalia we wouldn't have the comfortable lives we do.

Vangor:This is not how much more a Big Mac would cost the McDonalds corporation if all employee salaries were to double; this is how much more a Big Mac would cost the Mcdonalds corporation if all employee salaries were to double and McDonalds wanted to maintain the same level of profit. Products are not priced based on careful calculation of cost of labor, training, materials, facilities, etc., but those form the minimum to sustain a company whereas a company is willing to find the maximum a market will spend on a product. When cost of labor, materials, and so forth increase, products are priced higher, and when cost of labor, materials, and so forth decrease, products remain the same cost for longer because we know the market will spend this maximum on a product.

Being able to generate less of a profit is not a loss...

You forgot a major thing. The cost of employing someone is significantly higher than the salary or wages paid to that person. People who have never run their own business do not realise this. In a major business like McDonalds the cost of employing someone can be 2 to 3 times their actual salary/wages.

Oh, and to stockholders/shareholders less of a profit is as bad as a loss. If a company publishes quarterly profits below expectations then often a run on selling shares occurs and that company can go out of business suddenly, even if it is still making a profit.

Frederick:According to the sidebar article the average age of fast food workers is 28. You think we should just write off those people as "failed" and not consider seeing to it they have a reasonable means to contribute back to society?

yes.these people have failed.they provide no benefit to society.they only serve to produce more leeches upon society.

CaliNJGuy:Frederick: Pray 4 Mojo: The Stealth Hippopotamus: 550 million Big Macs are sold in the US every year.

550,000,000 X .68 = 374,000,000.00

If McD thought they could just increase the price of their Big Mac and make an additional 374 million dollars don't you think they would have already done it?!?

This.

Pointless study is pointless.

/If you work at Mcdonalds in an attempt to support anyone other than yourself, at some point, you failed at life.

According to the sidebar article the average age of fast food workers is 28. You think we should just write off those people as "failed" and not consider seeing to it they have a reasonable means to contribute back to society?

Yes. If you are 28 and working the McD's counter you probably deserve to be there.

Depends.

There are losers and there are motivated people down on their luck.

The problem is that there are naive people who think that everyone who works in fast food past 19 is some poor revolutionary put down by DA MAN. I don't have issues helping people find better employment while they bide their time flipping burgers, buy to say that burger flipping is some kind of career deserving of substantial compensation is nonsense.

oren0:Morelix looked at McDonald's 2012 annual report and discovered that only 17.1 percent of the fast-food giant's revenue goes toward salaries and benefits. In other words, for every dollar McDonald's earns, a little more than 17 cents goes toward the income and benefits of its more than 500,000 U.S. employees.

Thus, if McDonald's executives wanted to double the salaries of all of its employees and keep profits and other expenses the same, it would need to increase prices by just 17 cents per dollar, according to Morelix.

As has been pointed out above, this is a total failure of economics. Assuming that a 17% increase in prices would result in a 17% increase in revenue is idiocy, because the increased price will result in lower demand and therefore lower sales. If the original statement were true, McDonalds would just raise their prices 17% and earn that much more profit.

Not to mention that if you double the pay of the lowest paid, you're going to have to raise everybody's pay, as supervisors and managers aren't going to work for the same (or less) than the line cooks. And, it's going to increase the p/e ratio and lower the price of your stock (if it took a $1 investment to make $1.25, and now it takes a $1.17 investment to make the same $1.25, investors are going to flee). By the same token, your borrowing costs are going to skyrocket, as you make back much less on each borrowed dollar. The chain reaction goes on and on.

Short version: the person who conducted the "study" is an idiot. "Labor costs are 17 cents per dollar, so doubling wages will only add 17% to the price" is something that nobody who's taken even an intro to business, economics or finance would say.

Frederick:According to the sidebar article the average age of fast food workers is 28. You think we should just write off those people as "failed" and not consider seeing to it they have a reasonable means to contribute back to society?

Just throwing this out there, but in the age of information services and automation, isn't there a case to be made that even employing these people at minimum wage doing such menial labor is, itself, a concession to unskilled laborers, distributing something to people who would otherwise be unemployed?

I was only partially kidding about the touchscreen and the robotic arm. Even Asian peasants are getting priced out of factory work by machines. Isn't giving them "a means to contribute back to society" more about giving them useful skills, instead of simply inflating the payoff for not having any?

AllUpInYa:MrBallou: ferretman: FTA: "In other words, for every dollar McDonald's earns, a little more than 17 cents goes toward the income and benefits of its <a data-cke-saved-href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/04/news/companies/mc donalds_jobs/index.ht m" target="_hplink">more than 500,000 U.S. employees."

Yes...there are no other costs besides employee pay and benefits. What the student hasn't taken into account, if minimum wage was doubled, the rising costs associated with the suppliers, the ones who manufacture the beef patties, chicken nuggets, soda syrup, shake mix, french fries, fish sandwiches, packaging suppliers, etc. These are all manufactured by other companies under contract to, in this case, McDonalds and are typically union-shops (at least on the east coast). If everyone's wages increase the product cost will increase and there will be less jobs.

Yeah, your right to get cheap-ass food far outweighs those people's right to earn enough to lead a decent life.

FFS people, pay for what you get. People are trying to make a living, just like you.

Pocket Ninja:Actually, another way to look at it would be to say that if you cut the average McDonald's worker's salary in half, to maybe $4.00 an hour or something like that, McDonald's would be able to CUT 68 cents from the price of their Big Macs. That would help make food much more affordable to other people, which might help reduce the almost universal dependency on Food Stamps that Obama has created.

Going even further, if McDonald's cut salaries to but cut the price of Big Macs by LESS than 68 cents, what would happen is that McDonald's would, overall, become more profitable. This, in turn, would give the corporation more money that would eventually find its way back to the very same workers who are supposedly now receiving "lower wages." It's not actually that their wages are getting lower, it's that they're getting less DIRECT money and more INDIRECT money. But it all works out the same in the end -- and, I'm not afraid to say, probably to the benefit of the employee. It's a well known fact that charitable donations are at their lowest ever now, after years of recession. But if profits were to start going up again? Why, it would be like Christmas year-round.

The reality is that life is not an Oprah show. McDonald's can't just walk into their restaurants tomorrow and point at everybody and say, "You get a raise, you get a raise, EVERYBODY GETS A RAISE." They'd love to, but they can't. Because, see, if they do that, everybody gets a raise, sure...but then the price of food goes up, which means even more people go on food stamps, which means profits drop, which means charitable donations drop as well -- and, in the end, everybody gets poorer. Everybody.

Have you ever watched lobsters, subby? A tank of them. Every now and then, one lobster will try to escape. He'll swim up to the top and be just about to get out of the tank. And do you know what those other lobsters will do? I'll tell you. They'll grab him and drag him back down. Right back down there with him.

HeartBurnKid:marsoft: HeartBurnKid: OregonVet: Just raise minimum wage to $12 and index it to inflation. Since McD employees already earn more than minimum, according TFA, it will be a bonus for everyone. Problem solved. We'll do ourselves a favor by not having to hear about this crap every year or so....

Have to add that, or else we're just delaying the problem.

Of course the real problem is not the minimum wage or such is it money as debt.

Most of the money in the economy is not real. If everyone was debt free the whole system would crash. As things stand the only way the system can work is for debt to increase. This will of course hit a limit where the supply is not sufficient to service the existing debt. Some say this has already happened and the 2008 crash is the first indication of the collapse.

Read up on how the monetary system actually works, you will be shocked. Nope I am not some conspiracy nut, I am someone who works in the FS industry and knows how stuff works.

I was wondering when the gold bugs would show up, as if gold had intrinsic value.

Who said anything about gold? Just pointing out that with a $1 dollar deposit at a central bank, another bank can lend $100 to someone and $99 just appears out of nowhere. that money can then be re-lent by another bank and so on. Gold is just another metal to me. The problem with money as debt is it has to be repaid.

super_grass:The problem is that there are naive people who think that everyone who works in fast food past 19 is some poor revolutionary put down by DA MAN. I don't have issues helping people find better employment while they bide their time flipping burgers, buy to say that burger flipping is some kind of career deserving of substantial compensation is nonsense.

Fair enough, but I don't see how the right can claim merit in "trickle down" economics, union busting, deregulation (among many other economic policies) and fight for tax cuts for the job creators, then biatch and moan about the number of food stamps. They see no correlation?

I am sure they think it's a great idea but think of what happens when they realize that everywhere raised prices 17% to pay staff twice as much. After a 17% increase in rent, phone, electricity, water, car insurance, internet and food they end up finding they are making about just as much. Also as people accept the raise in price McDonalds would probably look at ways to cut cost and soon we have them opening up stores where you walk in and feed a machine dollars for a hamburger that has been under a heat lamp for a few hours but hey at least it's 68 cents cheaper.